Vol 1: Daydream Believer
By David Lapham
2008
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
Vol 2: Maestro
By David Lapham
2009
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
A few months ago at the Comic Forum meeting someone (I think it was Will?) mentioned Young Liars in glowing terms (I think. Hell - maybe they just mentioned it? "Young Liars is a comic book that exists") and I thought - "cool -I'll check that out." It wasn't until I held the physical copy in my hand that I realised that we had already met: about a year or so ago. I think I must have read the entirety of the first book in my lunch break thought "well - that was alright" - put it aside - and then never thought about it again. Of course it's not a good sign if you forget having read something - and even less of a good sign (sign goodage?) if you don't even realise that you've only read the first part of something and that there was supposed to be more to come.
So what gives? Well - now I've finally got around to reading it again (and I'm gonna admit that it did sit on my shelves for quite a while before I actually summonded up enough strength to want to read it again) I guess my main problem with it was that (for me) it wasn't massively totally awesome and didn't blind with brilliance and fantasticity (that's a word - right?). Rather: it was more of a - yeah *shrug* it's alright - you know? To be clear: at no point did it feel like there was anything wrong with it and there's nothing in it that I would want to change - but it resolutely failed to set my world on fire which left me feeling a little like I had my nose pressed against the glass - standing outside of a party. Technically - there's lots of nifty little things it did with the narration/word boxes/whateverthey'recalled - sprending a song over a single issue and having thoughts cross over with dialogue - that left me impressed and the artwork gets the job done in a Steve-Yowell-kinda-way and I did like the way it wasn't afraid to follow it's crazy ideas to their crazy conclusions (there's always something good about having whole issues that leave the reader going: "what the hell?"): but altogether - yeah... well. The end of the second book does wrap things up a lot better tho - that's for sure [1].
If you've read this and seen an obscure little 1995 film called The Doom Generation then you can nod your head along with me when I say that they're both really reminiscent of each other (and if you've enjoyed one then I recommend that you try out the other) - and - yeah - (while we're on films) if you like things like Wristcutters or Repo Man or the exotic strangeness of David Lynch - then I think this is a comic you'll dig very much. As for the rest of us... Yeah - well. I kinda wanna check out the book that David Lapham is most well known for - Stray Bullets - but currently Islington only has Vol 6 - and it seems like something that you need to start at the start at and seeing how Young Liars didn't blast me away like I wanted - I don't really have the energy to track the missing Volumes down. Maybe some other time David...
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[1]: Actually: I just did a little google to find some reviews and it turns out that there's actually a third book. (Laugh out loud). Thing is: I don't think that I can be bothered to try and get a copy for Islington. But - hey - if you're a fan: go for it.
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Links: Pink Ray Gun Review of Vol 1, Comic Book Resources Review of #18.
Further reading: Supermarket, Demo, Rasl, iZombie, Scott Pilgrim, The Umbrella Academy.
All comments welcome.
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